Super Super Star
by MsJc1210
Summary: It's Tatsuya's dream to be a Kpop star. His friends would have called him crazy if he actually didn't have the qualifications to be one. Korean-American OC
1. Neighbors

**SUMMARY:** It's Tatsuya's dream to be a Kpop star. His friends would have called him crazy if he actually didn't have the qualifications to be one. Korean-American OC

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

* * *

**Chapter 1:** Neighbors

* * *

The Himuro family moved into the house next to theirs when Kelly was seven. Kelly didn't know much about them other than what she seen for herself and heard from Mr. Rodriguez. They were apparently a small family of Asians—Japanese, Mr. Rodriguez had told her—and that they had a son. The boy seemed small—smaller than her.

"I heard the parents talk to the movers," Sarah said at dinner. "They must be fresh off the boat 'cause their accents were crazy thick."

It wasn't like their parents were any different. Still, the Kangs had twenty years to assimilate into the American culture despite never understanding the ever-evolving slang. "Did you go talk to them?" Dad inquired.

"No, I was just passing by."

"Mr. Rodriguez did," Kelly piped up. "He said that they were Japanese."

"_Oh, really_?"

"It looks like you and their kid could bond over Pokemon and Digimon," joked Sarah.

Kelly doubted that would happen. Why would she hang out with a boy younger than her?

After one week since the move, the Himuros appeared on their doorstep with a presented boxed cake.

Mom had an expression of surprise on her face when she saw their neighbors standing before her. Immediately, she ushered them inside. Kelly, who was peering over at the corner, quickly scrambled over to the living room and dove into the cushions of the couch.

After cooing over how adorable their son was, Mom called out, "Kelly! Come meet our new neighbors!"

She really didn't want to, but she knew the weight of embarrassing oneself in front of other people if choosing to go against her parents. She learned well after observing the blunders that Sarah had made. Reluctantly, Kelly slid off the couch and padded over to the doorway entrance.

"This is Kelly, my youngest daughter," Mom said, pulling Kelly to her side and petting her head.

"Oh, you have more than one child?" the woman, Mrs. Himuro, said.

Seeing the couple in person, Kelly could tell that they were fairly young-looking. Mrs. Himuro in particular, Kelly noted, was quite pretty. She wondered if Mom would look pretty too if she decided to grow out her hair and wear dresses. Her eyes then fell down to their son, who was hiding behind his mother's legs.

"Yes, two. My oldest, Sarah, is thirteen. Kelly is seven."

"Same with Tatsuya," Mrs. Himuro chirped, smiling brightly. "They be good friends!"she exclaimed in jubilance.

"Your son is Tatsuya?"

"Yes. He is seven-years-old, like your daughter."

Kelly was shocked. That kid was _seven_? He looked five at best!

"Really? He's very cute! Very handsome boy," Mom enthused. "Kelly, you take Tatsuya to your room and play, okay?"

While the adults would go off to the kitchens and talk about grown-up things, Kelly mused sullenly. "Okay," she sighed. She marched away from Mom and into the hallway, looking over her shoulder to see Mr. Himuro gently pushing his son to follow her. Tatsuya kept his head down and shuffled forward. Kelly briefly considered rolling her eyes like how Sarah would.

When they reached her bedroom, Kelly closed the door and sat down on her bed. "So you're Tatsuya, right?" Kelly said.

Tatsuya didn't say anything. His eyes remained fixated on the floor.

"Are you Tatsuya?" she repeated in a louder voice, unsure if he heard her.

The boy flinched. "H-hai," he breathed out shakily.

She frowned. "Hi?" she mumbled, puzzled. "Hello? Hi there?"

He gave no response.

If Sarah was here, she would know what to do. Better yet, if Mr. Rodriguez was here, he would unfailingly make the boy talk. Kelly huffed out exasperatedly. Since she wasn't getting much of a reaction from Tatsuya, she might as well make use of her time while being confined here in her room. She pulled out her green folder and pencil case from her backpack and plopped herself into the chair before her desk.

She looked over at Tatsuya, who was still standing there awkwardly. Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to mind.

"If you're not going to do anything, you should help me do my homework," she said. She took out one of her math worksheets and shoved it into his chest. "Here's a pencil too."

His eyes widened. "N-nani?"

"You can do math, right? It's really easy, but it's so boring to do."

He glanced down at the paper, and then his body began to shake. Without warning, he broke out into a loud wail.

Kelly, stunned, just sat there, staring at him with wide eyes.

A few seconds later, Mom entered the room with Tatsuya's parents following after. "What is going on?" Mom demanded.

"I don't know!" Kelly exclaimed, regaining her senses. "He just started crying!"

"What you mean you don't know? Did you say something bad to him?"

Kelly felt a prickle of offense hearing Mom assume as such, but was too taken aback by Tatsuya's behavior to convey it. "No, I just said that he could help me do my homework! Honestly!"

Mrs. Himuro swept Tatsuya up into her arms. "Anata no mondai wa nanidesu ka?"

Tatsuya began to blubber slurred indistinguishable words into her shoulder, pointing accusingly at Kelly. Kelly looked over to Mom for an explanation, but even she seemed to be as confused as her. The woman then promptly turned to Mr. Himuro, who coughed into his fist.

"He says that your daughter was forcing him to do labor," Mr. Himuro said, his expression not betraying any emotion.

"Kelly!" Mom cried out, aghast.

"I just said that he could _help_ me do homework!" Kelly cried back. "I wasn't forcing him to do anything!"

Needless to say, Kelly and Tatsuya never got the chance to bond over anime.


	2. Mr Rodriguez

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 2: **Mr. Rodriguez

* * *

Kelly should have expected that this would have happened. But she didn't.

"Mom, I don't want to be his friend." She wasn't whining. She wasn't.

"Kelly, stop whining. He is your neighbor and you made him cry," Mom scolded.

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Ha, way to lay down a good first impression, Kelly," Sarah snickered, stuffing another mouthful of peanuts.

Kelly found this totally unfair. Aside from being forced to see that crybaby Tatsuya again, she never laughed Sarah's misfortunes.

"I hope you get fat from those peanuts," Kelly spat, and then stomped out of the kitchen.

"Kelly, you know you have to see that Japanese boy, yeah?" Dad said the second Kelly entered the living room. He was lounging on the couch with the remote hanging loosely in his grip. "_Don't make him cry, okay_?"

"I'm going to see Mr. Rodriguez," Kelly grumbled loudly, ignoring whatever Dad said. She made sure to slam the door, but just a little bit. As much as she wanted to, there was no need to rouse her parents' irritation with her own.

Kelly crossed the street with quick feet and directly to the house that was across from hers. It was a small old residence that looked like it was going to fall apart. Despite its dilapidated appearance, the house remained standing for decades and will stand for decades to come, or so Mr. Rodriguez had told her.

She stepped onto the straw welcome mat and pressed the doorbell five times. It didn't take long for the door to open. "Ah, Kelly, I didn't expect to see you so soon."

Mr. Rodriguez, like his home, was old. He had a long hooked nose, and the flesh under his eyes was droopy. His skin was freckled and the color of dusty brown. Yet, behind those large squared glasses, was a pair of bright eyes. It always made Kelly wonder if he just looked ancient when he was actually younger.

"Hi, Mr. Rodriguez," Kelly said, stepping inside his house.

"What's the matter, girl? You look upset."

"My parents are making me see the new neighbor kid," she huffed. "But I really don't want to after what happened yesterday!"

"You two met yesterday?" he asked, moving to the kitchen.

"Yeah. His parents came over to my house with cake, and then Mom made me take Tatsuya to my room to play. But I didn't know what I could play with him, so I told him that he could help me with my homework. Help me, not force him, but _help me_." At this, Kelly couldn't help but make a noise of frustration. "But then he started crying! And then he told his parents that I was _forcing_ him!"

"Hmm," Mr. Rodriguez, who was chopping lettuce, said. "His name is Tatsuya?"

"Yeah, and you know what? He is a liar and I am being forced to be his friend and everyone thinks that I purposefully made him cry!"

"But you didn't."

"I didn't," she said, nodding resolutely.

"He sounds like a shy boy to me. Maybe he was just stressed from moving from his home to a different country."

"Well, he didn't have to cry," Kelly groused, glaring at a piece of lettuce on the counter. "Even though he's moving to another country, he should have been—I don't know—ready for having a new life or something. And if I had to move to another country, I would be excited. I would be—I would be excited to go to Alaska or Iceland. I mean, who wouldn't want to see snow?"

"Perhaps," the old man said noncommittally.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Kelly said a tad accusingly. "You sound like that whenever I tried to explain to you why Santa Claus doesn't exist."

"I'm not saying that you're wrong on both accounts," Mr. Rodriguez said, now cutting the tomatoes. "But maybe it's different for Tatsuya. He could have a hard time adjusting to the different culture and language that is very, very different to the one that he grew up in."

Kelly still couldn't see what Mr. Rodriguez was getting at, but didn't respond any further. Instead, she silently seated herself on a chair and thought up a plan. If Mr. Rodriguez couldn't understand her by listening to her problem, she would just have to show him by bringing the problem to him.

* * *

When Mrs. Himuro and Tatsuya arrived, Kelly announced that she would be taking Tatsuya over to Mr. Rodriguez's place.

"Kelly, don't bother Mr. Rodriguez," Mom said disapprovingly.

"But, Mom, Mr. Rodriguez wants to meet Tatsuya," insisted Kelly.

"Mr. Rodriguez?" Mrs. Himuro said, stumbling over his name with her accent. "Oh, he is the old man, yes? Mexican, yes?"

"He's half-Cuban and half-Mexican," noted Mom. "His mother was Cuban."

"So can we go? Mr. Rodriguez made churros for us," pressed Kelly.

Mom sighed, but didn't oppose to the idea. She never did when it was Mr. Rodriguez. However, she waited to hear Mrs. Himuro's input. The Japanese woman hesitated, her brows furrowing. "This man is…a good person?" Mrs. Himuro inquired.

"He is just like Kelly's grandfather, actually," Mom said.

"How about Sarah?"

"Sarah isn't as close to Mr. Rodriguez as Kelly is since she does not talk to him very often, but she usually talks to him only for his churros." Mom clicked her tongue at the last part.

"Ah, I see." Mrs. Himuro took a few seconds to mull over, and then said, "If he isn't a bad person, then I think it would be okay…"

"Okay, then. Be safe, Kelly," Mom said. "Take care of Tatsuya, okay?"

She wanted to say that Tatsuya could take care of himself, but she held it in. "Okay," Kelly said. "Don't worry, we'll come back alive."

She opened the door and waited for Tatsuya to follow. When the boy didn't move, his mother spoke to him reassuringly in words that Kelly didn't understand. Japanese, she figured. What other languages would they speak anyway?

Tatsuya's face pinched, like he was about to burst into tears, but then he nodded his head jerkily and began to trail after her. Kelly waved to both mothers a farewell, closed the door, and began to cross the street. She turned around to see if Tatsuya was catching up, but then found out that he didn't make even an inch onto the black asphalt.

Kelly felt impatience rankle her nerves. She met few people who annoyed her immensely, which was why she found herself seriously disliking Tatsuya. First, he made a scene that got her in trouble, and, now, he wasn't going to cross the street? What did he expect? For her to carry him?

Groaning, she returned back to the sidewalk. "What is it?" she demanded, frowning. "What's wrong?"

Tatsuya jumped and began to fidget. "A-ano…" he whispered wobbly.

"Mr. Rodriguez isn't a bad guy, you know. He's a nice old man with delicious churros. He even listens to whatever you have to say," Kelly tried. "My parents and sister sometimes don't want to listen to what I wanna say when I wanna talk, so I go to Mr. Rodriguez because he's nice like that. He even gives me champurrado to drink."

"Boku…ano…" Tatsuya's grip at the edge of his shirt tightens until his knuckles turn white. "I don't know…"

"Know what? Know what champurrado is?"

"No! I mean, yes, I don't know," he stutters. "That is not what I mean."

Kelly crosses her arms. "Well, what do you mean, then?"

"Th-the street…"

"The street?"

"It…not dangerous?"

Kelly blinked. "Oh, um, well, this street usually isn't busy, so as long there isn't a car driving by, it's safe to cross."

Tatsuya nodded. "Oh. G-good..."

"Right… So can we cross now?"

"Um, okay…"

"Okay." She breathed out of her nose like how she would see Dad do whenever he got agitated. It didn't help much.

Kelly led Tatsuya over to Mr. Rodriguez's house. She stepped onto the straw welcome mat and pressed the doorbell five times. She never had felt so much relief in seeing the old man's face. "Well, Kelly, good to see you, girl. And this must be Tatsuya."

"Hey, Mr. Rodriguez," Kelly said, "I brought him like I told you I would." She tried to step aside for him to see the small boy, but Tatsuya shifted along with her like a shadow, hiding behind her and ducking his head.

"Come in, come in. I got the churros hot and ready for you two."

It took a lot of patience dealing with Tatsuya, and patience was never something that she had been tested on until now. Never have she met someone so reclusive and shy. Sure, there existed quiet kids at school, but none of them was as difficult as Tatsuya.

Kelly half-expected Mr. Rodriguez to begin to understand her by now when his fourth attempt in getting the boy to engage in conversation failed, but she was also very surprised to see that he failed at all. When she first met Mr. Rodriguez, the man coaxed her out of her timid shell in a matter of minutes. The only sign of progression he had with Tatsuya was having him devour three sticks of sugar and fried dough.

Getting bored of this, Kelly said, "How about we watch a movie, Mr. Rodriguez?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Mr. Rodriguez agreed. "How about you two pick what to watch while I clear the table?"

"Okay." Kelly hopped out of her seat and gestured for Tatsuya to come with. She led him to the living room and to the cabinet where all the DVDs were stored. On the left were those boring documentaries that Mr. Rodriguez, for whatever reason, liked to watch. On the right were movies that were perfect for both her and Tatsuya to watch.

"You can go ahead and pick what to watch," she offered. "Sarah, my sister, said that Pokemon is made from Japan, so we can watch this Pokemon movie if you want," Kelly added, holding up the case.

Tatsuya glanced at it before peering back at the stack.

"There are Disney movies and _Finding Nemo_ and _Lilo and Stitch_ and _Toy Story._ Those are good."

He scrunched his forehead in concentration. Then, with a hesitant and shaking hand, he carefully pulled out a case. It was _Snow White_.

"Boku—ah, I-I n-never see this one," he said, lowering his gaze. "I-I want to…"

Personally, Kelly didn't like _Snow White_. It was boring. But if that was what Tatsuya wanted…

"Fine," she sighed. "We'll watch _Snow White_." The lamest film ever made, she thought sullenly in her head.

Tatsuya ended up sleeping after drinking all of his champurrado and at the scene where Snow White was dancing with the seven dwarves. The side of his head sunk into the plush armrest of the sofa, and Kelly let of a giggle at the string of drool hanging out of his lower lip. At some point, though, Kelly fell asleep too. When she woke up, Tatsuya was gone.

"His mother came to pick him up," Mr. Rodriguez informed her. "He said he had a nice time."

Kelly didn't believe him even though she had no reason to not believe him. It wasn't like Mr. Rodriguez ever lied to her before, but the idea of Tatsuya actually enjoying himself was baffling. Well, what did it matter? The important thing was that she never once made him shed a tear today.


	3. Guest

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 3: **Guest

* * *

Kelly didn't go to the same school as Tatsuya, but, as his neighbor, she noticed some changes.

It had been five months since his move and it took less than five months for him to become well-adjusted to his environment. By the third month, he was already bringing in friends from school to play catch or basketball. It was strange to see a smile openly blossoming on his face, but as long as their parents stopped forcing them to hang out Kelly didn't care.

They haven't spoken with one another—not for the longest time. Not until Sarah's birthday came around.

Mrs. Himuro and Mom still talked with one another on occasion. It was one day that they were drinking coffee in the kitchen that they came upon the topic of Sarah's upcoming birthday. Kelly, who was about to enter the kitchen to grab a snack, pressed her back against the wall and curiously listened in on their conversation.

"Yes, my husband and I have to go on a trip next week, but we can't take Tatsuya with us. I don't know what to do," Mrs. Tatsuya sighed.

"How long you go away?" Mom inquired.

"Two days, I think. We leave on Friday."

"Oh, Friday? Sarah is going to be thirteen on Saturday," Mom said. Her face then brightened a bit. "You know, we are going to have a small party for Sarah. Tatsuya can stay over."

"Tatsuya can stay with your family?"

"Yes, you are only gone for only the weekend, right? So that's okay."

After giving in to the other woman's persistence, Mrs. Himuro smiled and said, "Thank you."

It was that instant that Kelly fled from her hiding spot. She ran into the hallway and barged into her sister's room. Sarah, who was lying on her bed on her stomach while talking on the phone, was startled and sat up.

"Hey, what did I say about entering my room?" Sarah snapped. "Get out of here, brat."

"Unni, Mom's gonna let him stay!" Kelly blurted, ignoring her sister's petulance.

"What are you talking about? No, never mind, I don't care. Just get out of here!"

"But—"

"I'm in the middle of talking to a friend. Leave before I call Mom up here."

Some help Sarah was. Kelly frowned and dragged her feet out. Once she was an inch away from the doorway, the door slammed behind her with a gust, followed by Sarah's grumble of "annoying little sisters." Sulkily, Kelly made her way to her room and flopped onto her bed.

* * *

It was the next day that Sarah finally understood what Kelly's dilemma was all about. Unfortunately, that didn't mean Kelly was given the apology that she deserved.

"What do you mean he's staying here?" whined Sarah. "Mom, on my _birthday_?" Her voice was pitched higher on the emphasis on the word. Kelly cringed at the shrill.

"Sarah," Mom began in her sternest voice, "_stop being so childish. We are just going to watch over him while his parents are away_."

"But I don't want to babysit him! And it's going to be embarrassing once my friends are over."

"Yah, you are almost thirteen," the woman scolded. "You are supposed to take on responsibility. It isn't going to be so much trouble."

Sarah had always been hot-tempered, but she certainly gotten moodier nowadays. Kelly heard from Mr. Rodriguez that Jaime's older siblings were especially mean to him since they were "at that age." She didn't know what that meant exactly, but she hoped that, whatever it was, it wouldn't hold its effects on Sarah any much longer.

While Mom lectured on Sarah's apparent lack of maturity and Sarah kept biting and griping, Kelly wandered over into the living room where her father was. Dad was on the couch, as usual, watching television and taking swigs of his beer and scratching his belly.

"When is Tatsuya gonna come?" Kelly asked.

"_Don't know. Ask your mother_," muttered Dad.

"Can I watch TV?"

"Kelly-ah, your father is watching his show now. _He came back from work today and he worked really long and hard. Don't you think that I deserve time to watch TV_?"

That was the answer that she expected, but it never hurt to try. She nodded, appeasing the man, and then returned to the kitchen where Sarah was now red-faced and grumpy. Something warned her about approaching her sister, and Kelly took it to heart (as if the countless other lashings from Sarah hadn't been enough).

"Kelly, help me clean the floors," Mom said.

Sarah promptly left the kitchen.

Kelly wanted to kick something. Now she had to clean the floors that Sarah had to do too!

Mom sighed and shook her head. "Aish, _that girl… And we have guests coming over too_!" She pulled a sopping wet towel from the sink and wrung it until it was only slightly damp. She then placed it on the counter and handed the dust mop to Kelly and instructed her where to start cleaning.

"_Sarah, if you're not going to mop the floor, then help clean the furniture_."

"I don't wanna," Sarah called out crossly.

Since Tatsuya was staying during the weekends, Mom decided that it would be best to start the weekly house chores a few days early. Normally, Sarah would be doing this with them, but since she busied herself pouting in her room, the tasks were left up to both Mom and Kelly. Sometimes, Kelly wondered why Dad couldn't help out when it came to cleaning, but she had a feeling that he would bring up the excuse of needing a break from working tirelessly all day long.

When it was around four o'clock, Dad left to go back to his store. Shortly after, Mom and Kelly finished cleaning and were taking a break, now sitting on the now vacant couch. Unlike Dad, Mom usually let Kelly watch what she wanted on television. But since her favorite shows weren't on, she handed over the remote control to Mom.

Mom said that because they had that special satellite dish sitting on their roof, they could have a few Korean channels. They were currently watching some boring show that had doctors and very emotional people in it. There were English words that flashed at the bottom of the screen that translated what they were saying. Kelly had tried and tried again to focus as to what was going on, but she would always blank out. She could never understand why Mom was so interested in these kinds of shows.

The second the lady was about to burst into tears in front of the doctor, the doorbell rang. Mom changed the channel and went to the door. Kelly let out a small groan and attempted to sink deeper into the cushions of the couch. She actually slipped off instead.

"Kelly, come here!"

She picked herself off the floor and to the doorway. Mrs. Himuro was there, peppering her son's face with kisses. The woman gave Kelly a smile before turning back to Tatsuya and bidding him a goodbye.

"Remember to be good for Mrs. Kang and her family," Mrs. Himuro said.

"I will," Tatsuya said.

When his mother finally left, Mom told Kelly to take Tatsuya to the room that he would be staying in—which happened to be her room. Since there was no other room to spare, Mom decided that Tatsuya would occupy Kelly's room until it was time for him to go home. During his stay, Kelly would be having a sleepover in Sarah's room.

Sarah, expectedly, was displeased about this, but having Kelly room in with a boy was out of the question. It was either one of the two girls' room, and the thought of relinquishing her room to some kid displeased Sarah even more.

When Kelly led Tatsuya inside, the boy looked around and murmured, "I sleep here…?"

"Yeah," said Kelly. "My mom changed the bedspread for you. You'll be sleeping on my bed."

"I… Oh…?"

"Since you're gonna be here for two days, I'm going to tell you the rules to my room," Kelly asserted, trying to copy Mom's serious face. "Do not touch anything in this room except for the bed and the floor. Got it?"

Tatsuya blinked and then nodded.

"Good." She paused, taking the time to look searchingly at his face. "You know, you're different."

"What? How?"

"From the last time you've been here. You're not as sad as before." Kelly gestured towards her eyes. "And you're not crying."

Tatsuya's face turned an interesting shade of red. "Th-that's because—that's because I was nervous," he protested.

"So nervous that you had to cry?"

His face twisted into that of frustration. "Well, you were the one who told me to do your homework!"

"I did not!" Kelly snapped, aghast by his unexpected accusation. "I said that you _could_ do it since it wasn't like you had anything better to do at the time."

"Yes, you said that! You said that I had to do it!"

"I didn't say that you had to do it! I said that you could!"

"You can't hear what you are saying? That is exactly what you told me!"

"What?" She was confused now. "What are you talking about? I said that you could do it, not that you should."

"I…" His expression parroted hers. "What?"

"You don't know there's a difference between 'could' and 'should,' don't you?" Kelly said.

"I-I know!"

"If I said that you _should_ do my homework, then I was forcing you. I never said that, though."

He shook his head. "That's what you said… You said that I _should_ do your homework."

"What!" she cried in outrage. "No, I didn't, you liar!"

Suddenly, the door of her room slammed open, causing both of the occupants to jump up in surprise. "Hey! Mind keeping it down?" yelled Sarah, glaring at the two. "Some of us are trying to talk on the phone!" With that message delivered, she brought the door to a loud shut.

Kelly and Tatsuya stood in the middle of the room in silence.

"M-my mom told me that your sister's birthday is in Saturday," Tatsuya said finally.

"She's gonna turn thirteen," Kelly supplied.

"Oh, that's cool."

"She thinks that just because she's going to be a teenager gives her the right to be all bossy and stuff," she muttered with a huff.

"I wish I was a teenager," Tatsuya murmured wistfully. The strap of his backpack slipped off of his shoulder, and his backpack fell onto the floor with a thud. "My friend Henry has an older brother whose fourteen and he gets to do whatever he likes to do."

Kelly wondered if it really did take five months to turn a nearly-mute crybaby to become this talkative and confident (for his standards). Heck, never did she imagine engaging an argument with him.

"So when is your birthday?" he asked curiously.

"March. How about you?"

"My birthday was in October."

"How old are you?"

"Eight. How old are you?"

"I'm gonna turn eight on March."

He gave a small smile. "I-I'm older than you, then."

Kelly felt slight irritation by that response. "Whatever. It doesn't matter that you're older than me by a couple months," she huffed, deliberately giving him her ugliest scowl.

Tatsuya appeared to be taken aback, but then proceeded returning her scowl with his own.

Now it was Kelly who was surprised.

"I got you," he laughed, pointing at her wide-eyed expression.

Her lips contorted into a frown, and she turned around and marched off. She ignored his calls of "Wait!" and intended on heading straight to the kitchen where Mom was. "Mom, I can't take it anymore," she wanted to tell the woman. "Make Mrs. Himuro take her son back!" He had only been here for no more than ten minutes and already did Kelly grow quite irritable by his presence. Funny how the same thing happened the last time he was here.

However, Tatsuya caught up and pulled her to a halt by grabbing her elbow. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings," he said, brows furrowed in consternation.

"Yeah, well," she said, tugging her arm back, "you didn't have to be so mean."

"I wasn't—I-I mean, I know," he sighed. "My mom and dad said that I shouldn't make you or your family mad at me. That would be rude."

"Then promise you'll stop being mean?" Kelly demanded.

He nodded. "Next month, I'll get you a present," he said, "since it'll be your birthday then."

Her anger instantly waned. "Alright."

Tatsuya smiled and looked like he was about to say something else until his attention diverted to the screen of the television. "What's that?"

"A Korean boy band," Kelly recited from memory. "Sarah really likes those kinds of things. She watches them all the time."

"Why?"

Kelly shrugged. "She likes the boys, I guess."

"What are they doing?"

"Dancing and singing."

"At the same time?"

"Yeah."

His eyes never left the screen until the song was finished.


	4. Jaime

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 4: **Jaime

* * *

Fourth grade was a year of new changes. It wasn't only because Kelly was placed in a higher grade, but the fact that she was placed in the same class as Jaime.

She didn't like Jaime.

Kelly preferred that he had remained in San Diego, but for whatever reason (Mr. Rodriguez said something about business, but she didn't get it), Jaime and his family came back to Los Angeles. It was a peaceful year until his return.

It wasn't even a surprise to see Jaime unchanged. He went from an obnoxious and loudmouth seven-year-old to an obnoxious and loudmouth nine-year-old. Naturally, Kelly did whatever she could to place some distance between them—she pretended that they were total strangers and attempted to keep out of his range of sight. Unfortunately, her plan failed when he brought to school his grandfather's churros.

This would be the first and last time she would sit next to Jaime Ramos for this year and the following, Kelly vowed. (Or the second to last if Jaime kept his promise of bringing Mr. Rodriguez's oatmeal cookies.)

While it was hard to avoid Jaime at school, it was even harder at home since the Ramos moved into the neighborhood. The weirdo frequented Mr. Rodriguez's house, so it was hard to bother visiting the elderly man anymore. After all, how could she enjoy visiting what with Jaime hollering at her face "Smelly Kelly is so smelly!"

One day, Tatsuya came over. Ever since he gave Kelly a birthday present, they became somewhat close. No, not friends exactly, but perhaps something similar to it. It wasn't like they really hung out either—he just spent time at her home to join Sarah in watching Kpop from time to time. Apparently, Tatsuya found it to be all rather entertaining, much to Kelly's confusion. It was just people singing and dancing, after all.

Mom and Sarah found it to be kind of endearing how a little Japanese boy liked Korean popular music. Dad didn't have much of an opinion about anything. And who knew how the Himuro couple felt about their son being so interested in Kpop? Though if they allowed him to come over so often, they probably didn't mind it too much.

Jaime must have seen Tatsuya come in because ten minutes after his invite, the doorbell was persistently ringing. Shortly afterwards, Mom led Jaime into the living room.

"A sight for sore eyes," muttered Sarah, who promptly retreated to her room. Kelly wished that she could do same, but she was already spotted by Mom and Jaime.

"Look, Kelly, Jaime came to see you," Mom said with a bright smile.

"Hey, Kelly," Jaime chirped.

"Uh, hi," Kelly replied.

"I'll go bring snacks," Mom said before leaving.

Jaime went up and shoved Kelly to the side, situating himself on the couch between her and Tatsuya. Kelly wanted to retaliate by pushing him off and then resort to actions of promised violence, but reigned herself in. If Jaime was still the same dunderhead that she was certain he was, then he wouldn't hesitate on "rough-housing" with her. Not to mention Tatsuya being here.

"What are you guys watching?" Jaime asked, looking at the television. A line of girls were dancing on stage, donning bright colored outfits and perfectly applied makeup.

"Korean pop music," Kelly and Tatsuya intoned simultaneously.

"Seems boring." Jaime leapt out of the couch and thrust a finger in Tatsuya's face, who flinched at the abrupt and invasive movement. "What's your name?"

"T-Tatsuya…?" Tatsuya answered. He cast a helpless glance at Kelly.

"I'm Jaime. C'mon, let's play soccer."

"B-but I—"

"Tatsuya plays basketball," Kelly interjected. "And, anyway, don't drag him anywhere he doesn't want to go."

"I'm not," protested Jaime. "I mean, why would he want to stick around here and watch," he paused to look back at the screen, "whatever this is? Since he's a boy like me, I would know that he would want to play soccer instead of watching this."

"Basketball," Kelly said.

"Soccer is so much better. Let's play soccer."

"I think basketball is more fun," Tatsuya mumbled. "And I actually want to stay here…"

Jaime, of course, didn't hear what the other boy had to say. "My sister has soccer balls that she could give us to play, I think. She's on the soccer team in high school and she's really good. Y'know, for a girl. But she's not captain, so I guess she isn't that good."

"Can't you just go away?" Kelly said, exasperated.

"Why are you always so mean to me, Kelly?" Jaime whined. "I give you my churros and yet you always have to pick on me."

"Well, if you weren't so annoying, then there wouldn't be a reason for me to be so mean," she shot back.

"And why does Sarah always disappear whenever I'm around?"

"What? It isn't obvious?"

"Geez, Smelly, no need to be so nasty."

"Don't call me that!"

"Smelly Kelly, Smelly Kelly, Smelly Kelly!"

Tatsuya suddenly smiled. "Smelly Kelly? Oh, they rhyme!" Tatsuya giggled, but quickly stopped when Kelly directed her glare at him. "W-we're writing poems in class, so I just…"

"You go to our school? I don't think I've seen you before," Jaime butted in.

"He goes to a different school," Kelly said.

"Shush. I wasn't talking to you, Smellster."

"Would you just—!"

It was Mom's arrival that stopped Kelly's growl. The woman came back with a large plate full of ice cream mochi and balls of rice dough filled with sweet red bean paste. "It's hot outside, so I bring something cold and sweet," Mom informed the kids.

"Oh, I remember these the last time I came here!" Jaime exclaimed, grabbing two mochis and cramming one into his mouth.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kang," said Tatsuya.

"Yeah, thanks, Mom," Kelly chimed.

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else," Mom said, and then left. Kelly and Tatsuya then turned their heads over to where Jaime was standing, finding him cradling his head.

"Arrgh, brain freeze," he moaned.

"Um, I know his name, but who is he…?" Tatsuya inquired hesitantly.

"He's Mr. Rodriguez's grandson," Kelly sighed. "Mr. Rodriguez said that he suffers from some kind of attention illness."

Tatsuya frowned worriedly. "A-an illness?"

"Yeah. He's always saying that Jaime has the attention span of a fish, so I think it's an illness."

"My friend Marcus's mom always says that about him too," he gasped. "He must have that illness then!"

"Does he act like Jaime?"

"Um, no. Definitely not."

"Then he's not sick."


	5. Sports

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 5: **Sports

* * *

The first time Tatsuya convinced Kelly into playing a game with him and Jaime would the last time she would ever comply.

It all began when on a sunny Saturday. Kelly was reading a book and lounging on the couch while Sarah was idly flipping through channels on the television. When the doorbell rang three times, both girls stared at one another. The parents were out, so there was no one left to go answer the door. Well, they could, but Mom and Dad cautioned the girls several, several times not to do so when neither of them was available.

"It could be Tatsuya," said Kelly.

"So then let him in," muttered Sarah.

"But you're the oldest, so you have to do it."

"He's _your_ friend, not mine."

"But Mom and Dad don't want me to do it since I'm too young."

"So?"

"So I'm gonna tell Mom."

"Oh, alright," huffed Sarah. She tossed the remote on the cushions and directed a disgruntled look at the younger who only smiled sweetly in response. "You're such a tattle-tale," she called over her shoulder as she stormed to the front door.

"Am not. I haven't done it yet."

As expected, it really was Tatsuya…and Jaime. Both boys ran over to the living room (only after Sarah yelled at Jaime to take off his shoes before entering the house), both wearing matching grins. If anything involved Jaime, this couldn't be good.

"Kelly, look! Jaime's brother got us new balls to play with!" Tatsuya enthused. In his hand was a basketball, and in Jaime's was a soccer ball. "Do you wanna play with us?"

"No."

"But—"

"See? I told you she'd say no," Jaime said. "But it's only natural since girls suck at games so badly."

"But what about your sister?" Tatsuya said with a small frown.

"Well, she isn't captain, so she isn't that good."

"But isn't your sister's captain a girl?"

"Argh!" Kelly pressed a pillow in her face. "I said no, so could you guys go?"

"But Kelly, it'd be more fun if all three of us are playing together," Tatsuya insisted.

Kelly wasn't sure when it happened, but Tatsuya and Jaime became friends by bonding over their love of sports. In fact, Tatsuya was now pulled away from his interest in K-pop to basketball. Despite not coming over anymore, Tatsuya still approached her and conversed with her. Definitely an interesting development from when they barely acknowledged each other a year ago. But, then again, it could be Jaime's doing. That smile that Tatsuya was sporting a few seconds ago? Obviously coming from Jaime's influence.

"I'm not allowed to leave the house without my parents' permission," Kelly told him.

"Well, you have my grandpa's," Jaime said. "So let's go."

"That—it doesn't work like that, stupid." Kelly crossed her arms. "Mr. Rodriguez is not my parent, so it doesn't matter if I get permission from him or not. I need to get permission from my parents."

"Permission this, permission that. What are you, a baby or something?" Jaime jeered.

Her cheeks heated up in anger. "No! I'm not! I'm just not some—some—some rule-breaker like you, Jaime!"

"No, but you're Smelly Kelly!"

Before Kelly could leap from her seat and tackle Jaime to the ground, Tatsuya intervened and said, "Please, Kelly? I want to play with my friends, and you're my friend."

"What about your other friends? The ones from your school, I mean."

Tatsuya ducked his head. "They, uh, are with their other friends." He held the basketball up so that it was blocking his face. "I know that you don't really like sports, but you'll never know unless you try, right?"

Kelly wanted to retort by saying that she tried enough times to have cemented her dislike for sports, but, for some reason, she couldn't find it within herself to turn down Tatsuya. He called her his friend, right? Well, if it was going to be like that…then playing shouldn't be _too_ terrible. Maybe. She scowled and then slowly slid off the couch. "Alright, fine," she grumbled. "But we won't be playing for too long."

The basketball was pulled down, revealing Tatsuya's happy face. "Th-thanks, Kelly," he said.

It was later that Kelly decided that playing was indeed that terrible.

Playing soccer knocked out that tooth that wasn't quite yet loose, and basketball caused her to get stitching on her tongue.

"If you think her tripping and almost biting off her tongue is bad, you should hear the time when she was in first grade—"

Since Kelly couldn't speak, she just shoved Jaime off the railing to shut him up.


	6. Taiga

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 6: **Taiga

* * *

Taiga, like Tatsuya, was from Japan. However, unlike Tatsuya who had picked up the English language rather quickly, the third grader's accent slurred thickly with his broken grammar. Probably feeling sorry for the kid, Tatsuya took him under his wing. Kelly thought it was kind of endearing to see timid and earnest Tatsuya being a big brother-like figure to the wide-eyed and outspoken Taiga.

It was a week after Kelly's tongue had healed that Tatsuya introduced her to his new friend. Before Kelly could give her word of salutation, Taiga nervously tugged on Tatsuya's shirt and suddenly executed a bow, blurting something that sounded familiar. Japanese, Kelly recognized when Tatsuya spoke quickly to the other boy in another language.

"He's kind of shy," Tatsuya said. "He spoke in Japanese without thinking. He means to say hello to you."

"Uh, who is he?"

"Taiga. I already told you."

"Well, I know that, but…" Kelly narrowed her eyes down at Taiga. "But who is he?"

"What? Oh! He's a third grader who goes to my school." Tatsuya smiled brightly. "We're going to play basketball—yes, I know, you don't have to play if you don't want to," he added the moment Kelly was opening her mouth to protest, "but can you come and hang out? We'll do what you want to do after we play a game."

Kelly crossed her arms. "Is Jaime coming too?"

"I'm here!" Jaime's voice carried over the bushes. "Sorry I'm late. I wasn't done eating lunch."

That answered her question.

After a minute of Jaime finally accepting the fact that he cannot climb over a bush, they waited another minute for him to go around the neighbor's yard. Jaime popped out and flashed a grin. "I'm here! What are we gonna do today? Oh, it's Tiger—"

"Taiga," Tatsuya corrected.

"Why'd you bring the baby here?"

Kelly wasn't sure how much English Taiga knew, but it was obvious that he knew an insult when he heard one, especially when being the subject of the insult. Taiga's face pinched into a pout, but it was to Kelly's realization that he was actually trying to glare.

He…was cute.

"Did he have a lemon in his mouth when he came here?" Jaime asked Tatsuya. "Why's his face like that?"

"Um, never mind that," Tatsuya sighed, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go to the basketball court. Some of my friends from school are meeting us there to play basketball."

"Cool! Let's be on the same team." Jaime's eyes landed on Kelly, and he jumped in surprise. "Whoa, Kelly! When'd you get here?"

"I've been here, stupid," Kelly snapped.

"Way to be like a ninja, Smellster. You're not coming with us, are you? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Kelly's not coming to play," Tatsuya said. "She's coming to watch."

"Yeah? Are you gonna be our cheerleader?" Jaime laughed.

"As if I'd cheer on for a doofus like you," Kelly huffed.

Taiga's face contorted into confusion. In Japanese, he asked Tatsuya a question. "Taiga, you have to practice your English," Tatsuya gently lectured. "You won't get better if you don't try."

Taiga frowned. "What…is…cheer reader…?"

"Cheerleader," Tatsuya pronounced clearly. "A cheerleader is someone who cheers one team on to win."

Taiga, in all his seriousness, nodded.

"He didn't say cheerleader," Jaime pointed out. "He said cheer reader."

"He meant to say cheerleader."

"But why did he say cheer reader?"

Tatsuya rubbed his head. "Japanese people have, um, a hard time saying the 'l' sound."

Jaime's eyes widened. "Really? Then can you say 'lion'? How about 'halibut'?"

For the rest of the walk to the park, Jaime kept pestering both Tatsuya and Taiga into saying words that had the letter 'l' in them. Tatsuya seemed to have developed an infinite patience after spending plenty of time over at Mr. Rodriguez's place. In fact, it was interesting how he pretty much took after the old man. Kelly's irritation for the former crybaby disappeared (although it could have been redirected at Jaime, frankly). It was probably how Tatsuya didn't get annoyed over Jaime's constant questioning.

On the other hand, Taiga was pouting—or maybe he was frowning. Kelly couldn't tell; Taiga was too cute and too little to properly don any frown or glare. Either way, it was clear that his first impression of Jaime wasn't getting any better. (Not that anyone would expect anything different.)

"Urusai!" Taiga abruptly cried out, clapping his hands on his ears. A furious stream of Japanese came out of the third grader's mouth. This prompted a snigger out of Jaime. Of course it did. Taiga blossomed into red fury and proceeded screaming even more Japanese at Jaime, which only made Jaime laugh harder and harder.

"I don't know Jaime as well as you do, so…do you know why he's laughing?" Tatsuya inquired Kelly.

"Just because I know Jaime the longest doesn't mean I understand him," Kelly replied. She then asked, "So what is Taiga saying?"

"Something about…noisy and stupid Americans."

"Oh." Kelly believed that she might have been offended if Taiga hadn't met Jaime during his first couple days here in the US. Making a proclamation about noisy and stupid Americans was justifiable after an encounter with Jaime.

"I think," Tatsuya began, "we might have to visit Mr. Rodriguez after basketball. Taiga should get to know more about American culture through watching Disney movies, right?"

"Definitely." Because only Mr. Rodriguez knew how to make any bad situation a better one.


	7. Crush

**NOTE:** "_Italicized_" is Korean speech

**Chapter 7: **Crush

* * *

Sometime in the middle of the year, it came to Kelly's knowledge that Tatsuya had a crush on someone. That someone was her sister.

She had her suspicions, but after confirming it with Mr. Rodriguez, Kelly was certain that the blushing and the sideway glances hinted of Tatsuya having a crush.

It was…strange. It wasn't like Sarah was particularly ugly or anything As a matter of fact, with her long and shiny hair, expertly applied cosmetics (from watching countless makeup tutorials), slender limbs and trim waist, and pretty eyes, it wouldn't be unusual for Tatsuya to like Sarah. No, it wasn't strange to like Sarah, but it was strange to like her _sister_.

If anything, Sarah was the only reason why Tatsuya would visit her house again to watch Kpop with them—and by them, Kelly meant Sarah and Mom. For Kelly, Kpop was interesting for only awhile. Anyway, afterwards, it escalated from there—Kdrama. Those programs that Sarah would be so absorbed in watching nowadays had another audience in form of their Japanese neighbor. It didn't take long for him to just stick with it from wanting to be close to the older girl to being genuinely into whatever series that they would watch.

Kelly, Jaime, and even Taiga hung around in the living room to see what the hubbub was all about. However, after twenty minutes of staring at the television screen, Taiga ended up dragging a snoozing Jaime and a dreadfully bored Kelly out the door. He would have dragged out Tatsuya too, but he looked happy enough seeing some guy standoffishly confess his love to a girl.

"This is your fault," Taiga had once accused her, somehow linking her friendship with Tatsuya to Tatsuya's recent re-interest (obsession) with Korean entertainment culture.

Unimpressed, Kelly only responded by arresting the boy into a chokehold. The one that Sarah would do to her if Kelly managed to annoy her enough.

"What is up with Tatsuya? He's so boring now," Jaime whined. After another failed attempt in getting Tatsuya to do something—anything other than station himself next to Sarah and keep his eyes glued to the television screen, the trio retreated to Mr. Rodriguez's house.

"Well…" Kelly exchanged glances with Mr. Rodriguez. The man shook his head, indicating that she shouldn't say a word. Darn. It was something that she really wanted to share with Taiga and Jaime, but Mr. Rodriguez said that it would only upset Tatsuya if it was known that he had a crush. It especially would be tormenting if Jaime would know because the brat would lord it over Tatsuya's head.

"Well what?" Jaime pouted as he stuffed another cookie into his mouth. "Tatsuya's been really weird. What's going on with him?"

"It _her_ fault," Taiga insisted, glaring at Kelly.

"Shut up, Lion."

"It Taiga, not Rion!"

Jaime spat out his milk and began to laugh hysterically. Mr. Rodriguez promptly mopped up the milk and scolded Kelly for being rude.

"He—he said Rion!" Jaime cried, slapping his hand on the kitchen counter.

Taiga did a perfect rendition of a tomato.

"It your fault!" the third grader shouted, jabbing a finger at Kelly's direction. "You take away my basketball friend!"

After having listen to Taiga's baseless accusations for a week—_an entire week_—Kelly groaned and threw her arms in the air. "Then I'll be your new basketball friend! Just stop complaining!"

"No. You stupid in basketball."

Apparently, Jaime had already told Taiga _that_ story.

"Then why don't you make Tatsuya play with you again?" Kelly grouched.

And that was what Taiga did. It took plenty of wheedling on his part, but Taiga managed to get Tatsuya on his feet (with reluctance) and head over to the basketball court. By some miracle, Tatsuya's passion for the game was reignited and the two played until it was almost time for dinner.

Taiga was pretty proud of his efforts, but it still dismayed him to see Tatsuya still spending time over at the Kang's.

"I'm not sure if this is about Tatsuya's crush on my sister anymore," Kelly said to Mr. Rodriguez.

"Well, maybe he found a new love."


End file.
